Stay
by CompYES
Summary: Sam left behind his old life for happiness, for stability. At Stanford, he thought he'd found that in Annie. But his new life begins to collide with the old when Annie proves to be more than she seems.
1. Stay

**Stay**

Summary: Sam left behind his old life for happiness, for stability. At Stanford, he thought he'd found that in Annie. But his new life begins to collide with the old when Annie proves to be more than she seems.  
Spoilers: Before the beginning of Supernatural, nothing really solid with Buffy beyond the fact that she's sort of in this.  
Disclaimer: Supernatural is to Kripke. Buffy is to Whedon. I am to me alone.

* * *

There was a frame on the night stand. A picture was placed in it. Two people, a guy looking somewhere past the camera, his arm casually looped around a girl's waist. She had a bright smile pointed straight and true. He stared at it, missing the warmth of the real thing.

Sam sometimes didn't know how he'd ever managed to get a girl like Annie to look his way, let alone inspire the initiative in her to ask him out. Annie was perfect. He didn't really know a better way to describe it. She was smart. He didn't have to dumb down conversation for her to keep up. At the same time, she knew how to be fun and help him relax when he got too stressed about exams and studying. It didn't hurt that she was beautiful either. Everything about her made her so out of his league that he thought he'd spend the rest of his time at Stanford watching her from afar. It made for an enormous shock when one day she caught him watching her from across the lecture hall and decided to corner him right after class to ask him out on a date. He'd been so stunned, he'd accidentally said no straight off.

It wasn't like he'd never had any experience with girls before. He'd always been the one asking them out and it was always hit or miss on whether they'd say yes or not. And when they did, it never lasted very long considering how often his dad had them on the road. After the first, the second, the third relationship he had to cut off reluctantly, he just stopped trying to have one. It had just become second nature to deny that kind of thing for himself. The unexpected invitation for coffee had caught him completely off guard. The moment he'd said no, he'd immediately started backtracking, trying to take it back when he saw the clearly disappointed look on her face. At the sight of his flustered face, she'd burst into peals of laughter at him before simply telling him to meet her at the cafe she gave him directions for. And then she sauntered off just like that, with only an offhand mention of being late to another class.

Since that day, they'd been dating for going on six months now, living to gether for the last three of them. She'd managed to capture his attention, charm him senseless, and wriggle her way into his heart irreparably. Sam couldn't possibly think of life before her, or what it would be like without her. It seemed to dull and without point. But now... He was so confused, sitting there on the bed in the room they'd just stared sharing. It shouldn't have been empty. He should've been lying in it with her curled into him, but here he was, alone, it was already morning, and she wasn't home with him. Sam didn't know what to do. How was it possible that the woman he was sure he loved could still be such a mystery to him?

* * *

_"Sam, you're such a dork!" Annie laughed as Sam tried valiantly to keep the spoon on his nose._

_"What does that make you if you're dating me?" he shot back, getting a sappy smile from his girlfriend._

_"I guess it makes me a dorkette," she replied cutely._

_No longer caring about the spoon, he let it drop as he reached forward across the tabletop, placing one large hand on each side of her sunny face and pulling her in for a long kiss. Feeling her smile into it, he let his lips follow her lips' lead. Eventually, they had to break apart, for lack of air among other things. It was getting late and they needed to be getting back to their place. A little voice in his head that sounded suspiciously like his dad had started raving about the dangers of being alone and unarmed at night. That was the time the things they hunted- _used to hunt_, he corrected- like to crawl up out of the wood works. He would've shut the voice off if he wasn't so concerned about the girl on his arm staring up at him adoringly, babbling on about shoes she'd been thinking about getting her cousin for her birthday. Sam wanted her safe more than he wanted to ignore the side of him that was still a hunter no matter how long he'd been out of the game. Unfortunately, his attempts to get them home before dark turned out to be in vain._

_They'd walked from their place on campus to the restaurant they'd eaten at. Sam hadn't wanted Annie to think anything weird was up and let her set the pace for walking back. There was still a ways to go and Sam was starting to not like the eerie silence prevalent in the area. It was never this quiet around the campus. There were always some joggers or people still out around this time. His worry only doubled when even Annie started to sense something was up, huddling closer into his side. He barely saw it coming until it had barreled both of them over. At the last second, he managed to maneuver himself so he'd take the brunt of the hit as well as the fall and Annie wouldn't. Groaning, he opened his eyes, his side and back aching but for the most part alright._

_Sam cursed as he stared up the blood stained face of the werewolf._

_"Sam?" he heard Annie whisper to him confused, unable to see anything because her face was shoved into his chest._

_"Annie," he said low and evenly to her, his eyes never leaving the vicious blue ones in front of him, "I want you to get behind me. When I count to three, I want you to run away. Run as far as you can, find people. Call for help if you can."_

_"Sam? Sam, what's going on, I don't understand."_

_"Please Annie. Just do what I told you. I love you," he murmured softly to her._

_Her whole body went rigid and Sam knew she understood the gravity of the situation. He knew that he'd probably die here trying to stop it from getting her, but he didn't mind so much if he was doing it to save her life. Sam could never forgive himself if he let something happen to her before he died trying first. Just as he was about to push her behind him and give her a head start, he felt her shove him away. With muted horror, he watched as she dashed to his left, beginning to circle the werewolf, drawing its attention from him onto her. He called out to her as he saw it lunge._

_Everything happened very fast in that minute. He didn't know where she got it from, but Annie suddenly had a gun in hand, aimed it and fired two shots rapidly. Sam watched as she quickly backed away letting the werewolf's momentum continue to carry it forward in her direction. The two watched as it hid the ground and continued sliding to stop at Annie's feet, dead. Its features began to shift back to their more human state and Sam took note of the fact that there was a bullet hole dead center in the forehead of the male corpse. A sneaking suspicion told him that if the body were flipped from stomach onto its back, the other bullet fired would be lodged in the chest cavity right where the heart should be. Taking in the events of the last couple of seconds, Sam remained in stunned silence as Annie continued to watch him and wait for him reaction._

_Finally, Annie broke the silence._

_"Say something."_

_"Annie, I, how?"_

_"I think you can figure out that that was a werewolf," she said, "And I just killed it. I kill these kinds of things. Things that go attacking normal people like you and me."_

_"You're a hunter?" Sam finally managed to ask._

_Annie's eyes widened at that._

_"You know about hunters?"_

_Yes he knew about hunters. He knew all about them. His father was a hunter. His brother was a hunter. Together, they'd raised him since infancy to be a hunter. He knew about hunting. And he also knew he didn't want anything to do with it anymore. Clenching his jaw, he turned on his heel away from her and stalked off in the direction of home. Sam could hear her running after him. Her small hands were on his arm trying to pull him to look at her. He couldn't._

_"Everywehre I go... Annie, please just..." he hissed at his inability to express himself properly, "I can't do this right now. Can you leave me alone? Can you just go away?"_

_"Sam..." she started before stopping, "I know this is probably tough for you to take in right now. I'll stay away for as long as you need. You'll know where to find me if you have questions."_

* * *

And that had been it. He'd walked away from her. Sam knew he'd layered mistake upon mistake in the aftermath of the werewolf attack. He should've checked for any other werewolves or victims in the area. Looked her over for possible wounds caused by biting. Walked her home so she'd be safe. He should've held her in his arms and reassured her he still loved her. He should've told her the truth about himself that he'd been hiding all along.

What Sam shouldn't have done was left her all alone and told her to stay away from him. What was he thinking? The answer was that he really hadn't been. He was a mess right now and the only thing that could've made him feel any better right this second would be holding her and knowing she was okay. Instead he'd hurt her, he knew he'd hurt her by the way her voice had hitched after he told her to go away. He wanted to sit there and think up every single disgusting name he could call himself for hurting the woman he loved when he was supposed to take care of her and protect her when she needed him. But he knew that the only way he could make this right was by acting. So he pulled himself up from the bed, up from his self pity and loathing, and made his way to where she knew he'd find her.

* * *

A blond woman answered the door when he knocked. Jessica Moore, Annie's cousin who also attended Stanford. The two of them had plenty of classes together, but they'd never talked until Annie had first asked him out. They'd been introduced, then became quick friends, though that was after Jessica had promised him that if he ever broke her cousin's heart, she'd beat him to death with a shovel. Judging by the cold reception he was receiving from her, Jessica was just about ready to crack out the shovel and smash it into the side of his head right about now. She'd be completely within her rights to do it too.

"Sam," she greeted, holding the door only ajar so he couldn't peer in.

"Annie's here?"

"Yes. She said to let you in when you came to see her."

It was obvious Jessica didn't want to comply with Annie's orders. She didn't have to vocalize the sentiment. Her frigid tone and the way she was bodily trying to block his entry spoke in volumes.

"I have to see her Jessica. What I said to her, she's got to understand that I love her and everything that happened, doesn't change that. I didn't mean to make her go away."

"Before I let you in, I need to give you a piece of my mind, Sam Winchester," she said sternly, "The only reason I'm not slamming this door in your face or coming out there to castrate you is that my cousin seems to think that you were _justified_ in whatever you said to her to make her come _crying_ to me in the middle of the night and that once you two talk, everything will be okay. As much as I want to believe that you're just an asshole and Annie's better off washing her hands of you, I believe her when she says that everything is going to be okay."

It was hard to have the same optimism that both of them seemed to share.

"But," Jessica stated, pointing her finger threateningly at him, "This ever happens again, and I don't care if she says not to, I'll kill you in your sleep. Understand?"

Fearfully, he nodded, swallowing dryly.

"Remember Sam, shovels."

With that, she stepped away and pulled the door open for him. He let himself in, looking around.

"She's sleeping in my bed," Jessica provided, "I've got to get myself some coffee and do some studying, so you guys can have alone time. Don't screw this up Sam. As your friend, I'm telling you that you're stupid if you let her walk out of your life. You're never going to find anyone more right for you than her."

"I know."

"Now go already," she ordered, breezing past him and out the door.

Hesitantly, Sam started moving, already knowing from past times he and Annie had visited where Jessica's room was. The door was shut and it was completely silent on either end. Gripping the knob, he opened it and let himself in. Everything still on red alert from yesterday finally relaxed when he saw her lying there sleeping, even if it looked like her rest was troubled. She was curled into a ball with the blankets tucked tightly around her. Seeing the upset expression on her face, he could tell she was having one of her nightmares. Guilt welled up again at knowing that he hadn't been here to wake her up and comfort her back to sleep like he did whenever she got like this. Going to sit beside her, he gently started running his fingers through her hair like she always enjoyed him do. He watched as her face became peaceful and the hands that had been tightly gripping the bed covers to her eased up and soon let go altogether. He thought she was deep asleep until he heard her say something.

"Sam..."

For a second, he thought maybe she was only talking in her sleep and not stirring. He watched as her hazel green eyes fluttered open and peered up at him with such trust and hope, and he felt completely ashamed and unworthy of it. One of her arms snaked up and out from the blankets and rest on his on top of her head.

"I knew you'd come," she said softly, closing her eyes once more and smiling as she caressed his hand.

"Annie, I'm so sorry for back there," Sam rushed ahead with his apology, afraid she'd fall asleep again before he finished, "You saved our lives and I shouldn't have judged you or got upset with you. I'm such a hypocrite for getting mad at you being involved with hunting."

"Sam," she said, reaching up and gently smacking his cheek, though it was more of a tap than anything, "Shut up. I don't blame you for getting spooked back there. Obviously you don't have good experiences with hunting. The fact that you have any background with hunting, with the supernatural, makes explaining this so much easier. If you were any other guy, you would've called me crazy and maybe even accused me of being a murderer."

Her eyes opened again, sadness in those pools of green.

"Annie," he said reaching for her and gathering her small form to his, "It was trying to kill us. Don't feel bad about doing something in self-defense."

"I know. But, I can't help but feel bad for the person that werewolf was. That person probably has someone who will look for them when they're gone and in the end, they'll be dead and I'll still be the one who took their life."

She didn't cry, but she clung tightly to him, upset. Sam couldn't help but think this whole situation was a little surreal. He never thought he'd have to reveal the truth about being a hunter to her, and he never ever once imagined himself sitting here talking about the supernatural and listen to her sympathize with werewolves. Not that he didn't understand where she was coming from on the werewolf stance. It wasn't fair to the werewolves involuntarily turned to be forced to be monsters killing people. Sighing, he realized that now he really did want and need answers about how she had gotten involved with hunting and the supernatural. Even after last night, he couldn't see his Annie as the hardened type of hunter he, his father and his brother were.

"Annie, how did you get involved with hunting?"

She sighed, and looked up into his face.

"It's a long story."

"I'm willing to listen to it as long as it's you doing the storytelling," he said, squeezing he side reassuringly, "And I promise, I won't leave you during, or even after you tell it."

"Well, first let's get comfortable."

Tugging him along, she made it so that they were both lying on the bed on their sides facing each other. One of her hands was held fast within one of his and his other arm around her waist holding her close. She sighed another time, still having difficulty trying to decide where to begin.

"I'm a sort of seer, Sam," she finally said, waiting for his reaction.

The first thing Sam thought of was Missouri, and then he thought about all the other psychics his dad had met over the years. Seers were good people. They helped hunters solve strange cases and look for new hunts to go on. To think Annie was one was amazing. He nodded, letting her know to continue. Relief flooded her, and she went on.

"When I turned fifteen, I started having all these weirdo dreams. Sometimes, I'd dream that I was a different girl with a different name. This girl would run around at night with her friends and hunt monsters. She was called the vampire slayer. It's weird, cause a lot of the things she fought don't exist in our supernatural world. They had corporeal demons," Sam flinched at that, but Annie was thankfully too engaged in telling him her story to notice, "And their vampires died by staking and sun light, and hated crosses and holy water. At first, I thought I was going crazy, or I was too stressed about school. But then there were strange things starting to happen at my school. Rumors popping up about a ghost in the basement. I thought nothing of it until someone died. Then I got really suspicious. It was purely by accident that I managed to get rid of the ghost when I confronted it. Of course, burning down the school is one heck of an accident. But at least it burnt up the remains of the person the ghost had been before it started haunting the school. And no one was killed in the fire either."

Trying not to, Sam finally gave up and burst out laughing at her cavalier admittance to burning down a school.

"What?" she whined, "It was an accident! In my dreams of the other me, she burned her school down on accident too! Anyway, after that, I took the dreams seriously. Even if they weren't the most accurate, I decided they were meant to warn me about the real things that go bump in the night. I started researching everything I could on myth, demonology, and freak accidents. My research was starting to go nowhere until I had a dream that gave me the name of someone who could help me."

"Who was it?" Sam asked, intrigued.

"The dream gave me the name of Robert Singer as well as the salvage yard he runs. He's the most knowledgeable hunter around. Of course, when I gave him a call, he thought I was just some punk kid trying to crank call him."

"Yeah, Bobby would," he commented with a chuckle.

"You know Bobby?" she asked in surprise.

"Yeah, old family friend," he replied.

"You're gonna have to tell me all about that," Annie said, now sharing his amusement, "It's really a small world. So Bobby didn't believe me until I told him about the ghost and the school and my strange dreams. I kinda wigged him out when I told him that I'd seen what happened to get him into the business."

When she shivered, recalling whatever it was, he scooted closer to her and rubbed circles on her back.

"After that, he helped me arm myself against the supernatural."

As if to demonstrate, she held up her arm to him show him the charm bracelet she habitually wore. Most of the charms were fairly inconspicuous, a cat, a heart, an angel, but he noticed some were different. There was a sun charm that had a pentagram carved into it, a cross, and a flat circular charm which, he wasn't positive, more like guessing, had a part devil's trap inscription on either side. Bobby had never let him have a decent look at any of these things when he was a kid. This was a lot of heavy-duty protection packed into one seemingly harmless charm bracelet, that to top everything off, was made of silver.

"I also keep a knife on me, as well as the gun you saw. It has silver capped salt rounds in it. I got myself trained to use them just in case."

"Annie," Sam said, continuing to stare at the bracelet, "Why would you need all of this?"

She bit her lip.

"Right before I came to Stanford, I started getting really bad dreams. I dreamed of demons possessing people, killing people. And then, I got really scared when I dreamed myself on a burning ceiling and cut open. The only thing I could do was beg Bobby for whatever protection he could give me. I had the bracelet custom made for myself the minute I had those symbols," she finally admitted to him.

His blood ran ice cold as he heard her say this, as he felt her shake fearfully. Annie wasn't the only one having dreams about her dying that gruesome death. Lately, he'd been having them too. Like Annie, he'd wanted to pretend it was a stupid nightmare, or even latent trauma from seeing his mother die the same way when he was a baby. All he knew was that if Annie was seeing it too, than it was time to be concerned that his girlfriend was genuinely in danger.

"Annie," he spoke, his own fear leaking into his voice, "Annie, I've been having those dreams too."

"So I really am going to die?" she asked, resignation in her eyes.

"No," Sam denied loudly, "No. I'm not going to let you die." He leaned in and kissed her mouth, kissed her eyes, kissed her forehead. "I love you too much, Annie Summers, to let you die."

"Then what are we going to do? The other me couldn't ever run from this kind of stuff and she knew what was coming for her. I don't know what it is or where to begin trying to stop it," she argued.

"I know what it is."

"What?"

"The thing," he said, "I think it's a demon."

"How do you know?"

"Because what you told me, the ceiling, the fire, your stomach cut open, all of that is exactly the way my mom died when I was a baby. The thing that killed her was a monster with yellow eyes," he explained, "And with what you've told me, I think that it might've been a demon too. The same demon."

"Oh Sam," Annie said, her eyes watering, "I'm so sorry. Is that why you got into hunting?"

"Partially. It was mostly because my dad that I started hunting. He was so angry and bitter after her death, hunting down the thing that killed her was the only thing he could think about. He raised my brother and I up to our eyeballs in the life," Sam told her, "I tried to get out though. My full ride scholarship was the ticket out. That's why I came here, to college. To have a normal life. My dad wasn't so thrilled about that and pretty much told me to leave and never come back if I planned to follow through with my plan for Stanford."

"I'm so sorry," she apologized, "You didn't want that lifestyle and here I am forcing you back into it."

"Don't blame yourself Annie. If anything, I should be apologizing to you, the demon's probably targeting you to get to me."

"Hey," she cried, hitting his shoulder, "If I can't blame myself, neither can you. There's no way to know for sure what the reason this demon wants to kill me is. Stop focusing on trying to find a place to put the blame. Let's start thinking about how we can stop this like you were talking about earlier."

"Well," Sam said, chagrined but smiling nonetheless at her determination, "I think we need to contact my dad and brother about this. Does Bobby already know?"

"No," she answered, "But he does know I'm in some sort of trouble."

"You should call him and fill him in. I'd do it myself, but my family, more specifically my dad, is not on the best terms with him."

"Okay," she agreed, "But are you sure about your dad and brother? It's, well, for the whole time I've know you Sam, you've always been uncomfortable talking about them. I mean, I can't believe your dad kicked you out. You don't need to get them involved in this just for me and I -"

Looking at her so worried for his own well being, he was torn between being touched by her thoughtfulness and exasperated that she was more concerned for him when it was her who was the target of a demon. Rolling his eyes, he just kissed her again to stop her from babbling on about it. Once he released her, he spoke again.

"Whether or not I have issues with my dad, it doesn't matter. He's been hunting this thing, this demon, for the last twenty years. If there's anyone I know who can keep you safe, it's him. Besides, Dean would never forgive me if I didn't call them in for a chance to get the bastard who killed mom."

"You're sure?"

"Yes," he confirmed for her one last time.

"Some times I wish I was the other me," he heard her whisper softly, "Her name was Buffy. She was strong. She slayed the monsters. If it was her here right now, she wouldn't be afraid, she wouldn't need help to solve her own problems."

"But then I wouldn't have you," Sam said to her, "I don't want this warrior woman Buffy. I want you Annie, just the way you are. Supernatural stuff included. Your problems are my problems too. We'll solve them together."

"Thanks Sam," she said, closing her eyes.

Sam was really tired too. He hadn't slept since the werewolf attack last night. Glancing at the alarm clock, on Jess's bedside table, he saw it was going on noon. He tried to push himself up and pull away from Annie, but he felt her hand grip his tighter, holding him back.

"Annie?"

"Please don't go yet."

"I need to go call Dean," Sam told her, trying to gently get her to release him.

"You can do it later," she insisted, "Just stay. Stay with me. Let's sleep for a while before we do anything else."

She was playing dirty begging him like this. He couldn't work up the will to give her the scolding glare he usually did when she put on the puppy dogface. Sam let his exhaustion, his need to just hold her sway his judgment. Lowering himself back onto the bed, he closed his eyes and laid his head on the pillow. Annie rolled over so she was facing away from him and fit her body snuggly against his so they were spooning. Everything that had happened in the last twelve hours had shaken his world. Watching his girlfriend kill a werewolf. Finding out she was involved with the supernatural. Discovering the yellow-eyed demon was after her. Sam knew that this was everything he'd been running away from the day his dad kicked him out of the house.

Suddenly, though, he found himself wanting to hunt the yellow-eyed son of a bitch down himself. Look up any strange events and patterns going on in the area that might be signs of them demons. He felt himself not even caring that tomorrow was a Monday and he had classes to attend and exams to study for. Things were all upside down and at the center of everything was Annie. The only constant was her now. She was what was important. No matter what he said, the demon was his family's business, his business. It had killed his mother and now it had eyes on the love of his life. He wanted her to be safe, to not be afraid something was coming to take her life.

He didn't know when precisely he fell asleep, but when he awoke, it wasn't to the nightmare of Annie dying on the ceiling for whatever time it was, he'd lost count. She was still there tucked into him looking like she'd always belonged there. And she did. Jessica was right. Annie was the perfect woman for him. It wasn't just because she was smart or because she was pretty. It was because she understood. She understood now the life he lived before he was Sam, Stanford student and aspiring lawyer. She knew the childhood he'd hid and been ashamed to ever let anyone find out about. Most importantly, she accepted it. Accepted that it was just a part of him as much as the Sam she knew right now. Having grown up with it herself, Annie knew what it was like to live the double life of normal person and hunter. If anything, she was just like him.

Before last night, Sam probably never could've imagined loving her more than he already did. No it was possible. There was so much more of Annie to love, to appreciate, and more of himself to share with her. They didn't have secrets anymore. Even with the supernatural world bearing down upon them, all that mattered was that he had her there within giving him some semblance of normalcy as he turned to face it instead of running from it. He'd never run from her again. There was no way he could ever let her go. Sam would do everything in his power to make sure that she stayed alive. That she stayed with him.

* * *

End

* * *

AN: This was born out of anger that no one writes enough Supernatural crossovers with good Sam pairings (read: Sam pairings _I_like). I love Sam/Buffy and Sam/Harry, but everyone seems to be allergic to them or obsessed with pairing Buffy and Harry with Dean (or Harry/Gabriel which also pisses me off because Gabriel inspires eye stabbing tendencies in me). It's good when it's good, but reading it non-stop gets very gleh. I'll write follow up eventually because this is very non-conclusive for a one-shot, but it won't be high on my priority. I'll post a notice on this for when I do put it up

AN2: I just re-read an another Sam/Buffy fic that unfortunately is really similar to mine called Smoke and Mirrors. To avoid seeming like I'm stealing, I changed Buffy's new name from Lizzie to Annie. If there are any phantom Lizzies, please tell me so I can fix them.

AN3: I went back over this to clean it up a little. Most of the stuff I write goes un-betaed, so there's bound to be errors galore. (1-07-10)


	2. As Foreseen

**As Foreseen**

Recap: Sam and Annie have called reinforcements in to protect her from the YED. But is it enough to stop what has been seen not only through Annie's seer dreams, but Sam's own demon induced visions?  
Spoilers: SPN S1 Pilot and S5 Ep "The Devil You Know." BtVS, still no real spoilers _yet_.

* * *

"So Bobby's coming down," Annie announced as she came back into the room.

There were papers and books scattered all over the table and starting to take over the couch. The only two free spaces still on the piece of furniture were the spots where she and Sam had been sitting to research together. Half of the stuff was schoolwork, the rest occult and recent weather reports that Sam had found strange. If Sam had had his way, all of it would have been demon related. But Annie had forced him to realize that while it did seem she was in danger, they couldn't just suspend their normal lives for this mad hunt. When Sam had tried to argue that it wouldn't matter if she were killed, she'd rebuffed him with the statement that it would matter if they did manage to keep her alive. Besides, once Bobby and his father and brother showed up, they could leave the work to them.

"That's good," Sam commented, distracted by the two books he had cracked open in front of him. From the looks of it, he was trying to read them both at the same time.

"Sam," Annie sighed in exasperation, "I told you, one or the other. You're going to give yourself a headache if you keep on trying to learn two things at once."

She reached forward and snatched one of the books away not caring which one it was.

"I can't help it." He ran a hand through his hair.

Annie swallowed and averted her eyes, enjoying the sight of him messing up his hair while shirtless too much. It would do her no good to try and scold him when all she wanted to do was jump him. And of course, it would be even worse if she actually acted on that desire and utterly distracted him from both demon hunting and studying. Once she wasn't blushing anymore, or drooling, she returned her gaze to Sam. There was a wicked look on his face that only ever made appearances when Sam was feeling particularly playful. And in those cases, it was usually because he was trying to tease or bait her.

A second later, he proved her theory right when he pretended to focus on the single book in front of him while languidly stretching out, showing off his amazing unclothed torso. Sam had found, after weeks of being unable to fight her puppy dog look, her own weakness: his chest. He ribbed her about it at first, how usually it was guys obsessed with their girlfriend's chest and not the other way around. Then he'd learned how to fight fire with fire, cute puppy dogface versus perfectly chiseled, well-toned, totally drool-worthy chest. The blush she'd been fighting off earlier flared twice as badly at the sight. But now was really not supposed to be the time. With a groan that was half out of annoyance with her boyfriend's evil nature and half out of frustration that she couldn't give in, she pulled one of the couch pillows to her and stuffed her face in it. To help her get her mind off of it, she also attempted to count backwards from ten in every language she was familiar with. Sam, the jerk, was laughing inconsiderately at her struggle to remain focused and not sex crazed.

"Sammmmmm," she whined, though it came out muffled from the pillow on her mouth.

"Fine, fine, I'll stop," he finally said, his tone much too smug for it to be allowed.

"Put a shirt on as well, please."

"Do I have to?"

"Yes," she answered, trying and failing to keep the disappointed note out of it.

Slowly, she heard him get up from the couch and pad to the bedroom in the back. Sighing in relief, she dropped the pillow back onto the couch and took a minute to look over everything laid out on the surfaces in front of her. It all looked like a mess at first glance, but once you knew what you were looking at. The book that was all but abandoned was one on demon lore and another was the reading Sam had to finish before his class tomorrow. With a grin, she started organizing the papers so that assignments weren't intermingling with California news reports. As she was looking through all of it, she noticed one document that had been buried under all the others. It was folded neatly into three parts. Picking it up and pulling it open, she realized it was a letter setting a date for Sam's interview to be accepted at Stanford for a Law degree. She gasped. Looking at the date it was written, it was about a month or so ago, and under further inspection, the letter seemed worn and the edges and corners folded. He'd had it for a while.

"Hey, so you were telling me that Bobby's in. What else did-"

A voice from behind her drew her away from the letter. It was Sam, shirt now on, seeming unsure as he glanced back and forth between her and the letter held in her hand.

"I was going to tell you," Sam explained, "I just didn't know if right now was the right time. I mean, there are just a lot of other things to focus on and, well-"

She held her hand up in the motion for him to be quiet. Nervously, he stopped talking.

"Sam, you don't have to explain or feel guilty about keeping this from me. I don't know why you felt like you had to hide it, but I want you to know that this," she indicated the letter, "Is a good thing. You've been telling me about how much you want to be a lawyer the whole time we've been together. Even though we've got all of this business with a demon stalking us going on, I think we need to take advantage of every good thing we have in our lives right now."

Walking over to him, she placed the letter in his hand.

"Annie." He turned the piece of paper over and read through it himself. "I don't know why I was hiding it either. I just...the last time I had news like this, I was telling my dad and you know the end of that story."

"Your father," Annie growled, "Seems worse and worse every time we talk about him. Just when are he and Dean getting here?"

"A week," her boyfriend replied with a grimace, "You won't laugh at me if I tell you I'm really not looking forward to it?"

"Not at all Sam, although I have to tell you, I think I'm kind of looking forward to it."

"What are you planning?" he asked suspiciously.

"Never you mind," she insisted, before skipping around him and pushing him back towards the couch, "Now back to studying. Shoo!"

Indulgently, he dropped a kiss on her forehead and did exactly as he was told.

It was only four days later that John and Dean Winchester showed up.

Annie had woken with a start after a dream, scared because it had been of someone breaking into their place that night. She'd quickly told Sam what she'd seen and the two of them had armed themselves. As she'd predicted, a window in the living room was being pulled open and the two of them heard the sound of someone levering themselves up and in. Sam went first to confront whomever it was. Annie panicked when she heard the sound of a scuffle and the exchange of blows. Immediately, she moved in to help Sam out. She could make out his taller form wrestling with a shorter, stockier male. Cocking her gun, she aimed and flipped on the lights, interrupting the tussle. In the light, she could see Sam on his back being held down by a man with sandy brown hair and green eyes. He was staring back at her wide-eyed, well, more like he was staring at her gun which was aimed right at him with a hint of fear even as he was schooling his features into a more indifferent expression.

"Sam, is this man your brother?" she asked eying the stranger critically. At Sam's nod, part of the tension she felt eased, "Alright, so you're Dean Winchester. Would you do me a favor and get the hell off of Sam?"

Raising his hands in surrender, Dean pushed himself up off of Sam and held out a hand to his brother to help him up. Sam took it, though he seemed irritated and rather reluctant to be taking help from his brother.

"Hey Sam, what's with the babe with the gun?" Dean asked jokingly.

Both Annie and Sam gave him similarly pissed off glares.

"Okay," Dean said, sensing the displeasure coming from both his brother and the girl, "This is awkward. How about you put away the gun?"

Tossing the gun to Sam (which caused Dean to imperceptibly flinch), she walked into the kitchen to grab a bottle of water and return to the room. Sam was angrily interrogating his brother about exactly why he was breaking into their suite in the middle of the night. She came in right as Dean was giving another evasive answer about just wanting a beer and shoved the bottle of water into the man's hands. He paused in his fake story to look at the water than her confusedly, not understanding why she'd give him water after just holding him at gun point.

"Drink," she ordered, "And then we'll all have a nice civilized chat in the living room."

Eying her suspiciously, he took a tentative sip of the water. When he noticed her tapping her foot impatiently, he took a more hearty gulp.

"He's clean," she told Sam.

"Wait," Dean interrupted, even more confused, "What the hell was that? Did this chick just give me poison or something Sammy?"

"No. What I did give you was holy water."

"Holy water?" Dean echoed, slack jawed. He looked at Sam upset, "She knows about holy water? Did you tell her about it? Dude, you told someone about hunting? That's breaking rule number one. We do our job and we shut up about it and don't tell anyone!"

"For your information, I've known about the supernatural since I was fifteen," Annie supplied.

"Dean, where's Dad?" Sam asked, trying to cut the two off before an argument or anything else could ensue.

"He's waiting just outside," Dean answered distractedly, still focused on Annie, "Just who the hell are you?"

"The name's Annie Summers. And I'm Sam's girlfriend."

"Can you two please stop?" Sam demanded, starting to massage his temples from the on coming headache.

Annie complied, knowing that Sam was having a harder time with the situation at hand than she was. Dean was on the verge of ignoring Sam and resuming his questioning, so she kicked him in the shin to shut him up. He gave her a scathing look but stopped when she rose her foot again threatening to give him another kick. Though he backed down, she could hear him mumbling under his breath.

"Jesus Sammy, of course you find the one girl who's as bitchy as you are..."

The insult was more amusing to her than it was offensive.

"Can you please call Dad in? I don't want him busting in here just like you did."

"Sure." Dean pulled out his phone and punched the number into his phone. His words were short and clipped as he spoke into it. Eventually, he slapped it shut. "He's coming around front."

The three both stood in silence as they awaited the last Winchester's arrival. Annie, to occupy herself, went back to the kitchen to grab some snacks. Half a minute later, she heard more lighthearted conversation going on in the living room. Returning to the room, she saw Dean perk up at the sight of the plate of cookies and the six-pack of beers she brought. She rolled her eyes at the totally predictable reaction. Trust a man to be happy at the sight of sweets and booze. Even Sam wasn't immune to it as both he and Dean lunged for the plate of cookies the minute it was on the table (thankfully Sam had cleared it and the couch beforehand) and started treating themselves. She pulled off a can of beer for each and set it down in front of each of them. Thinking for a second, she decided to pull another one off and set it in front of the space on the couch next to Dean. Sure, she didn't think very much of John Winchester, but as hostess, she ought to be polite. She could save petty treatment for later.

As if thinking about him summoned the man, the doorbell rang and both Sam and Dean were on their feet and heading towards it. Annie decided to prop herself up against the armchair Sam had been sitting in himself before he'd gotten up. The next minute passed achingly slow. The fact that she was meeting the father of the guy she fully intended to get married to one day. Circumstances were a lot stranger than usual considering that the driving force behind calling together this meeting was the fact that she was the future victim of the same demon who killed the man's wife. Of all of things Sam had told her about his father, the one thing she couldn't be angry with him for was wishing for the death of the monster that had killed her. To have the love of your life killed right in front of your eyes and your whole life uprooted in one fell stroke. Annie could only imagine how awful it would be if she had to watch Sam be murdered and not be able to stop it. That was something no one should ever experience.

"Annie."

She looked over to the doorway leading into the living room from the front of the building. Sam stiffly led the way, followed by Dean and an older dark haired man. Seeing the entire family together, she was amazed by how the genes in the Winchester family seemed predisposed to making gorgeous men. Sam of course was the only one she had real eyes for, but she could see how attractive both Dean and even John were. If things weren't so intense right now, she'd laugh at the wonderful picture they all made for her, standing like models in her and Sam's living room. Jessica would be so jealous if she knew. A stray thought of introducing Dean to Jessica popped up before it was pushed back aside for more important things, like getting this meeting started.

"Can everyone sit please?" Annie asked, getting their attention.

John regarded her with an incredibly suspicious look that she was beginning to think was natural state of being for him and his eldest son.

"Sam, shouldn't we be discussing this privately?" John asked his younger son, still looking at her.

"No, sir," Sam responded from where he'd already gone to sit next to her. Annie felt her smile tighten at his answer, not liking the formal way he referred to his father, "Annie is a part of this too."

"Explain." His expression had become disapproving.

"Before we do so, Dean. Do you still have that water bottle?"

Dean picked it up from where he left it on the coffee table.

"If you could please drink some of that Mr. Winchester?" Annie asked politely, though the tone she used made it sound as if she was giving the man an order.

"What is it?"

"Holy water."

If the statement shocked John, he kept it to himself as he took the bottle from Dean and took a swig of the water. No reaction. He was clean too.

"Thank you."

"Not a problem little lady," John said, for the first time that night sounding at least a little welcoming and not so prickly, "There's only one man I know that insists at every meeting to test his guests with holy water. You a friend of Bobby's?"

"Guilty."

If it was possible, John cracked a small smile which must've been a rare occurrence by the way both Dean and Sam reacted to it with veiled surprise.

"Though he and I haven't always seen eye to eye, he's a good man and a good hunter. I'm pretty sure any friend of Bobby's sure ain't a demon."

"Alright," Dean interjected, "So we know Sammy's girl is in the know and one of the good guys. Why don't we cut to the chase and talk about why he called us here?" He turned to Sam. "You said there was demon activity down here and you needed help."

Uncomfortable silence befell the room again. Sam and Annie both shared a look. Neither had given John, Dean or Bobby all of the facts on what was going on, deciding it would be better to explain in person. John and Dean would be hit hardest by the truth of why they were called here. They had a personal stake in this hunt. Reaching down, she took Sam's hand and squeezed it, letting him know she'd tell them.

"I'm a seer," Annie started, "I have visions of supernatural attacks. From these visions, I believe that a demon your family is familiar with has plans to attack someone here at Stanford."

John and Dean both went rigid as the realization of what she was talking about dawned on them.

"Yellow eyes?" Dean demanded through clenched jaw.

Annie nodded.

"Why didn't you tell us this when you called Sammy?" John sounded as if he was barely containing full out rage at his youngest.

"Because Annie wanted to tell you herself. She wanted a chance to meet you before telling you everything," Sam answered, his grip on Annie's hand tightening.

"Why would she need to tell us when you could?"

"Because I am the target of the demon."

"What?" Both John and Dean yelled at once.

"In my visions, I see myself being eviscerated on the ceiling as I burn," Annie described to them, and felt sorrow for the way both men, and even Sam, flinched at the details, "Sam told me about what happened to your family after I told him about the visions. Sam decided we needed to call you guys for help see if there's any way to stop it from...killing me."

Once she was finished explaining, she slid off the armrest and into Sam's lap, letting his arms encircled her body. For the next few minutes after Annie's admittance, no one spoke. John looked tortured, as if he was reliving the night Mary died all over again. Dean was watching her and Sam with horrified eyes. She couldn't stand to see them look that way anymore. It broke her heart. She turned into Sam and buried her face in his neck, breathing him in to settle her down. Sam was all she needed some times, when the visions got hard to handle and she didn't know what to do. She could forget about the future, she could forget about the monsters, and most importantly, she could forget about Buffy. All of it had been an enormous reminder that she'd never be normal. It had only been a minor annoyance before, but now it was starting to get in the way of things. Only just a week ago it had almost ruined her and Sam's relationship. Not all guys were like Sam. Her track record, Buffy's track record, they always ended in monsters and runaways. She wanted this business with the demon done and she wanted her and Sam to go back to their almost perfect, normal life again.

"Will you help us?" she heard Sam ask.

"Don't know why you're asking," John finally said. She could feel Sam's entire body tense, feel him square his jaw in what was a tell that he was ready to bite someone's head off. Any tension proceeded to drain out of him when his father spoke again, "Of course we're in. This thing killed your mother. Now it's gunning for Annie. It can't happen again. There's no way in hell it touches her or walks away from this."

"I'm definitely in," Dean said next, "She may be annoying, but we gotta take care of the future Mrs. Sammy Winchester." Sam made a little choking noise. "Family takes care of family."

After a minute of silence, Annie pulled her head away from Sam's warm, flushed neck and smiled gratefully at the two men sitting on their couch. John's expression was hard. Dean on the other hand, was returning her smile. It was kind and jokingly reassuring, but the same hard determination lurked in his eyes. These men would die fighting to keep her alive. She hoped for their sakes, and for Sam's, they wouldn't need to.

* * *

His dad and Dean ended up finding a hotel a little ways a way from the university. Annie had tried to convince them to stay at their place, but both of them had decided it would be better to "give the two crazy kids some privacy," as Dean had crudely put it. They came over every afternoon whenever they had breakthroughs on demon research. Sam had to admit, he was a little relieved. Initially, being around the two of them after the last three years away hadn't been too bad yet. Eventually, things started coming to a head, talking to them got strained. One of them would say something about the night Sam left and an argument would seem bound to ensue. Thankfully, Annie was always around to end or redirect the conflict. Surprisingly, Annie had been the first person to really snap when John said something a bit too harsh to him.

It had been a sight watching his tiny girlfriend yelling at his dad. For years, his family had always made him feel guilty for wanting a normal life when they should be out there avenging the death of their mother and hunting things. Like it was crazy thing to want anything but. He had to admit he felt some satisfaction seeing her tear into him, justifying his right to try to have a normal life, and he was glad to have Annie in his corner, standing up to his dad. Dean had tried to defend him, but one warning glare from her made him keep his mouth shut and stay out of it. By the end of her tirade, his dad had seemed thoroughly cowed. The ensuing conversation he and his dad had was a little awkward; his father had actually apologized for forcing him into the hunting business.

Since then, everything had been pretty civil. In fact, his dad, who'd already taken a shine to Annie since the minute she used the holy water test on him, had practically adopted her into the family. He'd caught him sitting in the living room with her whenever he was taking a break from hunting, cleaning guns together and joking around about old hunts. The scene had been strange, but pleasant. Things between her and Dean were less peaceful, considering how much they enjoyed antagonizing one another. They played the stupidest jokes on one another that reminded him of some of the epic prank wars he and Dean had had while on the road growing up. Still, Dean probably cared about Annie as much as his dad did, and had noticed that his brother always followed Annie out, shadowing her to her classes. Between himself, his dad and his brother, Annie was never without someone keeping an eye on it. Annie of course knew all about it, but humored Dean and pretended she didn't see him.

Altogether, the last couple weeks had been interesting, but nice. Bobby had even showed up two days ago and had, after clocking John once, joined him in the research. It had been nice seeing the man he considered his uncle again after an even longer time than he'd seen his dad and Dean. Sam had tried to lend a hand with the research, but the man had been even more stubborn with him than Annie had been with him focusing on what mattered, his studies and Annie. Annie had been incredibly pleased about that development. She'd taken every moment she wasn't occupied with something important to spend with him. Sam had stopped arguing when she'd kicked his dad, Dean and Bobby out the other night so she could ambush him in their bedroom. When they'd finally stopped to rest, she explained how today, she'd be having Brady over so they could study for their upcoming midterms so she wouldn't be able to see him much. He'd laughed at her telling him she'd miss him, and told her he'd miss her too.

He currently had a book cracked open and the TV on in their room while his girlfriend and friend studied, so he wouldn't distract the two of them. His reading was interrupted when he felt his phone buzz. A text. He pulled it out to check the message, thinking it was maybe his father or Dean. It was puzzling to see that it was Annie texting him from just the room over. Chocking it up to her just being silly, he opened it and started reading. The smile fell off his face when he read what it said:

**Brady's possessed. I'm sorry. I love you. Annie.**

There was a crash, a scream and then silence. Sam took only a second to grab a gun and ran in that direction. When he arrived, he took in everything.

The lights were out, but he could see well enough Annie's form spread out face down on the coffee table, her stomach cut open and blood pouring out of the wound and onto the wooden surface. Her eyes were closed and she didn't respond at all when he screamed her name. There was a knife loosely held in one of her hands and he could see her phone a couple feet away from her.

And then there was the demon possessing Brady. The son of a bitch hadn't even turned to look at him; he was more interested in looking Annie over with apt fascination, eyes completely black. It took Sam a minute to realize he wasn't moving to attack him, and then another to realize Brady was caught in a devil's trap they'd drawn with glow in the dark paint.

"Always knew she was a firecracker. Must be great in bed, huh Sam?"

Rage.

"Shut up!"

He was torn between going over there and beating the shit out of the demon wearing his friend, but his concern for Annie outweighed much else. He checked her pulse and felt it there, weak but there. Immediately, he tore his shirt off and pressed it to her midsection to stop the blood. Then he made some phone calls, the first to his dad to let him know what had happened and the next call 911 to get Annie to the hospital. Sam pulled her into his arms, despairing at the fact that she lay in them completely limp. He continuously checked her pulse to see if she was there, always holding his breath until he felt that weak beat against his fingers.

"She's pretty clever you know? She got me monologuing, telling her all about how I was going to kill her slowly and make you watch her die while she maneuvered me into a trap. Of course, that was after I had her on the ceiling slowly bleeding her. You know, I thought about hooking you up with her pretty little cousin Jessica, but this, this is even better. You bagged not only a hunter, but a hunter who sees the future! Good job Sam! It's almost a shame I had to kill her."

"She's not dead," Sam rattled out harshly.

"Yet," the thing wearing Brady's face provided unwanted.

Ignoring him, he continued cradling her body to his, hoping someone would get there soon before Annie died or he stormed over there and killed Brady before he could be questioned. His prayers were answered when his dad, Dean, and Bobby knocked the door down coming in. At that point, everything seemed to pass him by. His dad, brother and Bobby carted the properly restrained demon off. Each one of them had stopped to offer their condolences for Annie and hopes that she'd pull through. He was still so caught up in staring down into her pale face, the minute the paramedics had showed up and tried to pull her away from him, he'd snarled at them. Sam had only let them take her when they allowed him to be right there with her in the ambulance and all the way to the hospital. He'd answered the police's questions in a daze, only just remembering he had to give them a story. So he decided to give them a version of the truth. Brady had come over to study and attacked Annie in their home. With Brady's past history, the drug abuse and questionable behavior, not to mention the fact that he'd bled all over from when Annie had tried to fight back, it would be easy to implicate him. A part of him felt bad for pinning this on Brady when he was being possessed, but it was more important for him to stay out of jail for Annie. He had to thank God that Bobby had had the sense to clear their place of any of their weapons and unmentionables because the police's next stop was the crime scene.

Now he was sitting in the chair next to her bed. They'd taken her into surgery and managed to close the wound. Sam had been relieved to hear that knew after waiting anxiously after sitting in the waiting room dreading the doctor would come back with news that she'd died in the process. Unfortunately, the good news from the doctor ended there. Annie had also received some blunt force trauma to the head, a result from her fall from the ceiling. The combination of shock, blood loss, and the concussion put her in a coma and the doctor was ambiguous about when they thought she might wake up, if ever. Sam eventually stopped the doctor from talking, not able to listen to him talk any longer, and requested he could just be with her right now. The doctor had allowed his request and there he was, seated next to his comatose girlfriend, wishing to would wake up and open her eyes and tell him she was going to be okay.

Bobby showed up an hour later. His dad and Dean were still trying to crack the demon who was being stubborn and withholding information. The other reason he was there was give a note to Sam. He'd found it whilst going through their hunting equipment. Unfolding it, his hands clenched the paper tightly as he read every sentence with growing disbelief and pain. She knew. She knew this was going to happen. Annie had seen it the day Bobby had arrived and had been preparing for the confrontation. The last couple days, she'd been saying goodbye in case...she didn't make it. How could she purposefully put herself in danger? She said in the note that she did it to keep him and his family safe. Didn't she know that without her, his life meant nothing? She was his family now. As his eyes began to well up, Bobby patted him sympathetically on the shoulder and left him alone to his tears. He cried until he couldn't anymore, he begged her to come back until his throat was dry and he couldn't speak any longer. He even cursed her for doing this to him when she knew what would happen. Nothing worked. She didn't wake up.

He spent days at her side, with his family, Bobby, and even Jess coming in intermittently to get a status report on Annie and to check on his to see how he was holding up. Strangely enough, the only one of them who bothered him least was his dad. His dad understood what he was going through. He didn't try to instill any possible false hope in him, or try to snap him out of the depression he was slowly sinking into the longer Annie spent in her coma. Against Dean and Bobby's protests, he'd been straight with Sam about what they'd found out about the demon in Brady. The whole truth. That the demons had been targeting Annie to get to Sam. That Brady hadn't been Brady in a long time. The guilt and betrayal had hit him hard. He'd always suspected he, or at least his family, was what brought on the attacks. It was devastating to know that he was right and Annie had been another casualty of their curse, that her cousin suffered for it, that someone he considered a close friend had been lying to him all of these years.

After digesting all of the information his dad had given him, Sam finally made a decision. He'd called together everyone and they had a meeting in Annie's hospital room. Dean and Bobby had been angry to hear about his plan to go hunt the demon and leave Annie alone. Even John had some reservations about Annie being left unprotected in such a vulnerable state. They were withdrawn when Sam fleshed out the rest of the details. Bobby would stay with her until she was recovered enough to be moved. Then he'd fake her death, give her a new identity and bring her back with him to South Dakota. Though no one liked it, Sam stood firmly with his decision. He knew it was wrong to leave her, wrong to take her away from Jess, but he couldn't risk her life anymore. They couldn't wait for the demon to bring the fight to them anymore. They had to hunt it down and kill it. Only then would she be safe.

The morning he planned to leave, he asked that he could have some time with her by himself, to say goodbye. He'd already written a letter for her if she woke up and left it with Bobby. Seating himself on the edge of her bed, he leaned forward, hovering just over her. He committed her sleeping face to memory. Then he kissed her unmoving lips, hoping she felt him through them.

"I love you," he whispered, pulling away.

He stood up and reached into his pocket to pull out a box. Inside was a silver engagement ring with an amber gemstone set in it. He'd planned to propose to her after they'd caught the demon. Sam took it out of the box and slipped it onto the ring finger of her left hand. If nothing else convinced her he'd come back to her, he hoped this would. With one last longing look, he turned and left the room, knowing he wouldn't be seeing her again for a long time.

He didn't look backwards.

He didn't stop walking.

And then he was gone.

* * *

End

* * *

AN: Oh, poor, poor misguided Sam. So anyway, I decided I'm just going to make this a multi-chaptered fic because I realized there was a lot more I wanted to write for this series. It would be too many one-shots in one series. I'm so excited about it though. I have such plans for this. Maybe I'm being a little ambitious, considering I don't know the verses that well. But since I can't shake the need to write it, I guess I just gotta go with the flow.


	3. Never Be Exactly

**Never Be Exactly**

Recap: Annie's woken up after Brady's attack on her. She survived, but when woke up, she wasn't at home. Or even in the hospital. No, it was much worse.  
Spoilers: SPN - not much. BtVS up to "Once More With Feeling."

* * *

I don't belong here.

She didn't voice the thought, but she thought it nonetheless. As she stood in that room filled with people looking to her anxiously to be their leader, their protector once again, she knew this wasn't right. They wanted her to tell them everything was going to be alright, and that they'd done good by saving her from hell. How could she break their hearts by telling them they'd done nothing close to saving her? Let them know just how wrong they'd gone in their attempts to save their beloved friend and sister?

To their faces she lied, told them exactly what they wanted to hear.

I was in hell.

You brought me back.

Thank you.

Lie.  
Lie.  
Lie.

Unable to stomach it any longer, she stepped out into the alley, into the fresh air and sunlight. She needed to regroup, to get a hold on her thoughts. What was real, what was fake, what she had to do now. The sound of a click alerted her to the presence of someone else in the alley with her. Unbidden, her instincts made her drop into a fighting stance, her hand over her chest where she had a knife stashed in case of an attack. Looking around, here eyes landed on him. There, sitting in the shade, the vampire, Spike, sat, watching her closely, intensely. It made her uncomfortable. She was fully aware of the vampire's feelings towards "her." Still, she couldn't help relaxing slightly in his company. Beyond his more than friendly feelings, he was the person she was least afraid of disappointing. He expected the least from her and that alone took a load off of her shoulders. Only he was the one that knew she wasn't fine. Said it was okay that she wasn't fine. Didn't push or pull.

If he only knew.

"Slayer," he said in greeting.

"Don't call me that."

There was a flash of concern as he took in her tumultuous emotional state.

"What else would I call you, luv? You are the slayer aren't you?"

Looking away from him, she began to pace irritably. This was a mess. Even worse than when she had first risen.

"Buffy," he called to her, "What's wrong? Do you need anything? Just tell me, Buffy-"

"Don't call me that either."

"What am I to call you then?" he asked, sounding both confused and amused.

"I..." she started before she thought better of it, "No. I can't. Not now."

He took several steps forward, reaching out to take a hold of her arm, but she danced out of the way at the last second, into the sunlight. His fingers were exposed to the light, and he hissed in pain and withdrew them.

"I'm sorry," she said wrapping her arms around herself tighter, "I'm sorry."

And then she bolted.

Tears dribbled down her face as she heard him yell behind her, telling her to come back. She couldn't. Not yet. Not now.

She didn't have it figured out yet.

* * *

This was a bad idea. This was such a bad idea. She hadn't gone back to the house since what happened at the Magic Box. She'd been so tempted to find a bar and drink herself silly trying to think things through. But then she remembered alcohol was bad, somehow, she and alcohol were...non-mixy things. And this metabolism she had, it would take too long before she was smashed. With her mental state and super-strength, her running around drunk was a terrible idea anyway. If she couldn't drown in her troubles that way, she needed someone to talk to. To discuss whatever... this... was. And it couldn't be Willow, Xander, Tara or Anya. They'd been responsible for this. And Dawn. No, it just couldn't be Dawn either. With Giles still off in the land of tea drinkers, she was left with no immediate support group to turn to.

Except for one.

Standing outside of the crypt, she wondered vaguely if she was supposed to knock or something. What was proper etiquette for dropping in on vampires? It wasn't like what she remembered was any good. Kicking down his door seemed like the kind of thing to do if he was an enemy. If she was seeking this particular vampire's help, kicking down his door was a bad idea. Her dilemma was ended when the vampire in question came stalking out of his own crypt. He stopped abruptly when he saw her standing on his doorstep. For a minute, they said nothing, did nothing, just took in the sight of the other.

"Slayer."

"Don't-"

"Call you that?' he finished for her. "Yeah, I know. You said that already. Now what's got you haunting my crypt tonight? I was just about to head out before you showed up just now."

That was unlikely. His infamous duster jacket was missing. He wouldn't be going far without it.

"What do you know about the magic Willow used... that day?"

"Not much. They didn't exactly include me in their reindeer games the night they did the spell. All I know is that any of that raising the dead mojo Red was messing with, it's got to be dark, dangerous, powerful stuff. High stakes, lots of chance that if anything went wrong, the results could've been... really bad."

He eyed her carefully.

"What if I told you I thought it went wrong?"

He frowned.

"I'd have to ask you why you think that."

His shoulders were squared and he stared at her hard. His arm went to rest on the doorway just overhead, and he was leaning in, all tall, imposing figure over her. She swallowed nervously. What if he didn't like what she was about to tell him? Well... the only upside to this situation was that if she told him and he got upset, that chip in his head would keep him from attacking her. With a large in take of air, she got ready to tell him.

* * *

_The hair on the back of her neck rose. Something felt off. Not right. She walked into her room, on edge._

_"You don't belong here."_

_The voice came from behind her. She turned to face it. A large cloud of blackness surged forth from her door. It writhed and floated right before her. Not knowing or liking whatever it was, she struck out at it. Her blows did nothing. Whatever it was, it was as mass-less as it looked, and trying to hit it was doing nothing but making her feel foolish for swinging her arms at thin air. As if she was an annoying bug, it threw out a part of itself and hit her. The blow sent her crashing into the wall behind her. Fear settled into her. How could she fight something she couldn't hit but could do what it liked to her?_

_In vain, she tried to hit at it some more, hoping for a miracle, that one might land. Nothing. It struck her again and she was spinning out of her room and smashing into a door frame. Dazed, she pulled herself away from it and tried to face her attacker once more._

_"Did they tell you you belonged here?" the disembodied voice came again._

_For some reason she couldn't shake, it sounded too familiar._

_"Did they say this was your home again?"_

_Everything she did, did nothing. It appeared, then vanished. Like it was mocking her helplessness._

_"Were you offered pretty lies, little girl?" And then she felt it encircling her, crushing her body. "Or did they even give you a choice...Annie?"_

_She went limp in the thing's grasp._

_"What did you call me?"_

_A dark chuckle rumbled through the room._

_"That's right. You forgot. Or maybe you don't want to remember?"_

_"What the hell are you talking about?" she yelled, struggling._

_"I have to say, I'm a little hurt Annie. How could you forget me, your friend? All those parties we went to. Not to mention that time where I had you on the ceiling, bleeding from your stomach. Good times. Good times."_

_Unbidden, visions, memories, began to come to the girl. A whole other life. Where vampires didn't exist. Where she had another family. The face of a blonde girl came to her, smiling, laughing with her. There was a building. A large room, lots of chairs, a big screen. A lecture hall, like at UC Sunnydale. But she didn't recognize the people, the place. Where was Riley in this? She looked across the room for him but found someone else. A guy, shaggy hair, green eyes, shy smile. Who was he? He was important. She knew he was important. Then the guy, green-eyes she'd call him, he was hold her, so tight, so much love. How could she feel this loved? She hadn't felt this way since, since Angel. Thinking that should've been painful but it wasn't. It was as if she was at peace with Angel, with life, and in green-eye's arms, nothing mattered anymore._

_And then there was another guy. Blond, cruel eyes. She didn't like him. There was something wrong. She saw black smoke, and then there was pain, as the world seemed to turn on its axis. And then she was falling. The vision started to slip away, but as it ended, she heard screams._

_Green-eyes. It was him. Somehow, it had to be him._

_And then she was suddenly out of the visions, and the misty black substance was holding her once again. She felt faint._

_"No, that's impossible."_

_"Thought that too, babe," the cloud spoke to her, "But here we are. Those fucking Winchesters had their fun exorcising me. Except when I was on my one-way trip back to the pit, I found myself here. And you know what? I like it here. Demons walk the earth here. This place reeks of dark energy. Look at me! I'm not even done integrating into this world and I can feel its power. Here, I'm no one's bitch. Here," the cloud squeezed tighter, crushing her and eliciting a gasp of pain, "I can do what no other demon could do."_

_"Brady," she whispered, disbelieving, not even aware she'd said it._

_"I'm touched," the demon, Brady, her mind provided for her, said, "You really do remember me. Too bad it doesn't matter, cause I have to kill you. At least, that's what your not-friends said I had to do to make sure I stay on this plane of existence. It's a shame I can't make Sammy-boy watch you die again."_

_"Sam...?"_

_"Don't remember him either? That's alright. He's not important. You'll be dead soon anyway."_

_"No..."_

_"No? I don't think you have any say in this Annie. You're gonna die for real this time. And you'll leave your little not-friends and not-sister as alone as Sam and Jess."_

_Something inside her snapped. Rage, pure, unadulterated rage pumped into her veins. The way he said those names. Like precious, beautiful words twisted by the things saying them. She couldn't stand it. Couldn't stand this disgusting entity speaking of precious things with that kind of disregard. Her struggles increased ten-fold to throw off this son of a bitch._

_She'd kill him if it was the last thing she ever did._

* * *

"Wait, so you're telling me that you're not Buffy, but some bird named Annie?" Spike asked her, massaging his temple as if he had an enormous migraine coming on.

"I think so. I mean, I have all of the memories Buffy had. And her slayer abilities. But when that demon attacked, all of the things from the other life, my life, came back to me."

While she'd been recounting her encounter with the demon, Brady, Spike had led her further into his crypt. Unlike the last time she'd come, this time, she went to the second level below this one. Just like Spike had described, it was really well furnished. Nicer than what was above. She took a seat on the red leather chair. Spike lent against the wall opposite, listening to her speak in disbelief and denial, though he managed to hide what he could behind his usual snarky humor.

"How can you be sure that this demon isn't tricking you? Trying to make you believe you're not you to throw you off your game?"

"Because..." Annie shook her head. "I can feel it. I know that that life was real."

"And this one isn't? Because I feel plenty real here. 'Cogito ergo sum' or some such."

She wrinkled her nose.

"I think therefore I am? Can't you come up with a better argument than that to justify your existence?"

For a long moment, Spike stared at her as if she'd come from another planet.

"Okay, you have me half convinced because the real Buffy would've never understood that. Dumb blonde and all."

A half-hearted glare was shot his way.

"I feel like I should be insulted, but I kind of understand. I-_she,_ wasn't the brightest candle on the birthday cake. All this understanding comes from being a Stanford girl in the other life."

"Bloody hell, so you're telling me that there's a Stanford in whatever whacked out alternate universe you're from? And you're a genius there?"

"Pretty much?"

"Do the others know about, you know, you not really being you, yet?" he asked suddenly.

"No."

"Then why'd you tell me?" Spike froze, and then spoke again quickly. "I-well, I mean, well why..."

"Partly because I'm afraid of how they'd react," she admitted softly, "They're all too... They're all too attached to Buffy. Dawn can't let go of her sister. The others are convinced that they needed to save their best friend from hell. How do I tell them that everything since I crawled out of that grave has been a lie?"

"So what, it's okay to ruin my ignorance?" Spike demanded bitterly, "You think my feelings are any less delicate that you can just trample on them and be on your merry?" He made a step towards her, but thought better of it and angrily grabbed something else and threw it. It smashed against the far wall. "You can't be so oblivious, with all your apparent smarts and her memories at your disposal, that you wouldn't see that I'm off my rockers in love with you-her-whoever you fucking are! With all of the roses and undying devotion, I'd have followed her to the end of the earth, died with her that day at the tower if I hadn't made a promise. And for the last five months, I felt like I should've. Why would you take this away from me? Why do you think that finding out you're not her, that this isn't real, would hurt me any less?"

"Because this whole time, you knew, or at least you weren't in complete denial like they were," Annie stated, shuddering, aching over the sight of his heartbreak as she broke his world, but persevering, "You wanted to believe that Buffy was really back, but no matter how hard you wanted it, you weren't ready to completely believe. You've been waiting for the shoe to drop for the last two days. Now it has. You know as well as I do there was something really wrong about what Willow did. I don't belong here. I'm still not positive it was another world, or dimension, reality, whatever. All I know was that I belong there. Buffy's time here is over. No matter how warped and screwed up the system, there will eventually be another slayer. Her friends, her sister, life, will go on without her."

"But what if we don't want to?" Spike asked, defiance in his voice, "What if we don't want to go on? What if we don't want to let her go?"

"She's been gone. She is gone. I'm not her. Not exactly."

"But you're close enough," Spike tried to argue desperately.

"Why? Because I'm a flesh and blood step up from the BuffyBot? I'm sorry, I'm really sorry that it's me and not Buffy in this body, but I'm not her and I won't be some twisted substitute that you or anyone uses in her stead." She looked him straight in the eye. "I'm going to find a way home no matter what you say to try and convince me otherwise."

Spike stumbled backwards, away from her, as if the force of her words were blows being rained upon him. He was completely devastated. In the space of the last hour or so, she'd destroyed his hope. The achievement brought her no pride. It was necessary to get it through to him that she was not going to be Buffy for them now that she remember who she was. That was the only way to force him to forget about Buffy. He couldn't help Annie if he was continuously holding onto the romantic hope that she could be his Buffy and he could be her knight in black leather. It was harsh break it to him this way, but it would be cruel to manipulate his feelings for Buffy to help her with her endeavor. She waited for him to regain composure. For a very long time, he continued to sit where he'd slid down the crypt wall, his eyes downcast and his shoulders slumped in evident defeat. After what seemed like forever, his gaze met hers.

"Why haven't you left yet? Haven't you emotionally kicked my arse enough yet?"

"The reason I came here wasn't just because I wanted to tell you about the other world. I wanted to ask for your help in finding a way back."

"My God, woman, do you know what you're asking for? I have half a mind to march over to your place and have a sharing session with the rest of the group over what you just told me. See how you'll fare trying to get back home then."

"Will you help me?" she repeated.

They had a stare off for all of maybe three minutes before he seemed to make up and mind and finally speak.

"No." He looked away, his face stripped of emotion.

"No?"

"I can't help you. You say you can't stay here, so I can't help you leave." A small sigh escaped his lips. "I won't stand in your way though. If you really feel like you've gotta go, I doubt I could stop you. And I won't go carrying tales over to others. I don't owe them anything. They didn't see fit to clue me in when they were casting that spell, so I don't need to be telling them about your little secret. And... and I won't be the one who goes bursting the Bit's bubble on this one either."

"I..." Her fists tightened in her lap. "Thank you Spike. For that at least."

He gave a snort.

"I guess you can show yourself out now. Contrary to the saying, my misery doesn't want company. Especially not yours." He took another long swig from the bottle.

Nodding, Annie quietly stood and walked away. The vampire did not give any farewells or even follow her out. She ascended the staircase and exited the crypt, snaking a stake Spike had left out as she went. It was better safe than sorry to be armed. It was dark. When she had first arrived, it had been the final minutes of sunset. Now though, it was as dark as night got. No stars were visible and there was so much cloud cover, what little moonlight she had wasn't very reliable. Thankfully, she had no run ins with any more vampires other than the one she'd just left. Her feet took her all the way to 1630 Revello in no time. With some hesitation, she strode forward and opened the door.

"Buffy!"

Came several cries.

Immediately, she found herself wrapped up by thin, long bodied teenager.

"Where have you been?" Dawn demanded, "Willow and Xander said you just wandered off from the Magic Box without letting anyone know where you were going."

"I'm fine," Annie said, beginning to shrug her off. Glancing past Dawn's shoulder, she saw Willow and Tara hovering nearby, as if they were waiting their own turn to take a crack at seeing how fine "Buffy" was. A feeling of annoyance, of being stifled and smothered, came over her again. She hadn't missed it while spilling her guts to Spike, "I just went patrolling." She was happy for the stake in her hand to back up her story.

"Alright. I guess," Dawn said, unsure, "Are you hungry? Tara made dinner, if you want any."

"No thanks. I just want to go to bed."

It was hard to ignore the girl's hurt look as she coldly breezed past her with out a second glance at her or their audience. Annie wasn't doing this to cause pain to anyone. The last thing she wanted was to hurt them anymore than they already would be once she left. Annie had a natural instinct to care for and comfort those who were hurting. But here in this world, where things were hard and unfamiliar, she had to suspend that part of herself. With Spike. With Dawn. She couldn't afford to be a bleeding heart, to lead them on. Going to her room, she closed the door and locked it behind herself to discourage any late night check ups on her by Dawn, or Tara, or Willow. She started changing into something warmer and less constricting than the skirt. In less than a minute, she was in jeans, comfortable boots and a jacket, climbing out the window with every intention of sneaking into the Magic Box.

She wouldn't be getting much sleep tonight scouring the books there.

* * *

Her determination was starting to waver. Several days of sneaking out each and every night had gotten her no leads on getting back home. With all of her research on possible trans-dimensional travel rituals, all of the ones she had come across so far would rip a hole in the world. She wanted to go home, not doom another world in the process. All information she found pointed to the fact that there would be great costs for what she was trying to accomplish. Every now and then, she wondered if they had thought about that for even a second before casting that spell. Didn't they know the risks? Neither Buffy nor Annie had ever gotten involved in magic before and they knew. Listening to Giles the other night after her return, he had known and torn Willow a new one for being recklessly naive enough to think they could've pulled it off with no consequences. Willow was very powerful, but inexperienced, out of control, and if her flippant overuse of magic lately was indication, addicted. It was an incredibly dangerous combination and she, along with Tara and Giles, were becoming increasingly concerned for the redhead.

She remembered what happened to witches that went wrong in her other life. Whether or not hunters existed in this world or not, Willow was asking for trouble the likes of which she'd never expect.

Annie dropped her face into her hands. This was getting so difficult. How had Buffy put up with this? Her friends and family were wonderful people, but they were getting on her nerves, though she excluded only Tara and Giles. If it were actually Buffy in this situation, the girl would've strangled someone by now. Willow with her self-important desire to want to fix problems with magic. Xander using her as an excuse to put off Anya. Anya with her inability to just for once stop talking about her time in "hell." And then there was Dawn. It was hardest around Dawn. She didn't want to hurt the girl's feelings, watching her sister die for her than be resurrected did give the girl right to be traumatized and clingy, but it was making it hard for her to accomplish anything as far as going home. The girl was always suspicious about her comings and goings. Asking after her health. Expecting family time when Annie was already having a hard enough time trying to do the bare minimum of covering Buffy's responsibilities as slayer, as college student, as provider for the family.

She a teenager, she'd always dreamed of what it would be like to be Buffy, with all of her super powers and her exciting lifestyle. Even as she had grown older, she still observed Buffy's life with awe at the ease she could dispatch monsters. She'd felt weak as just Annie Summers unable to do much beyond a salt and burn, chupacabra and on a good day, maybe a werewolf. But Buffy Summer's life was far from easy. Her super powers didn't solve any of her problems for her. They seemed to create more for her every day. Buffy had to be strong to come out of each day barely alive and a little more dead inside every time. Annie's admiration grew for the woman she wasn't every day she had to spend in her shoes trying and not quite succeeding to do what Buffy had. Day one had already beaten any enamor she'd once had with the life of Buffy the vampire slayer. Going back to being just Annie, rookie hunter, seer, Stanford student, friend, daughter, cousin.

Lover.

It would be a relief to go back to that.

Wearily, she shut the books she'd been looking through. It was already three in the morning by the time on her cell. She needed at least a couple of hours asleep a night to even think about getting through classes and patrolling the next day. Not to mention the brave face she had to put on for the others. That always seemed to be the toughest thing to do. It took little time to get back to the house and climb up the side into her room. The door was still shut and locked. She quickly changed into a pair of nightclothes before unlocking it and opened it a jar. Nodding to herself, she went over to her bed and burrowed in. Something felt like it was missing. But then again, everything seemed to be missing these days in another person's life. Pulling the covers to herself tighter, she willed herself to warm faster so she could slip into unconsciousness.

Her eyes shut and she melted into a dream.

It was with alarm that once she was aware once again, she felt a large arm wrapped around her waist. Opening an eye, she forced her body to remain relaxed as she tried to look for something to attack the stranger touching her. Shock ran through her when she found she recognized her surroundings not as Buffy Summer's room, but as another place she felt even more familiar with. Her room. Her room as Annie Summers, at Stanford. This was...

Fiery hot realization ran through her to her core.

If this was her room, than the arm around her belonged to...

She turned all the way around to face the man. He was asleep like she had been. His handsome features were completely relaxed in his sleep. In fact, he was drooling a little and his hair was a mess of bed head.

He was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen.

When he opened his eyes, and smile at her, she had to quickly change her mind.

That was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen.

Yawning, he pushed himself into a sitting position and got out of bed. Annie whimpered at the loss of contact. He turned to her and gave her another dazzling smile.

"I'm going to make breakfast. Don't worry about getting up, I'm going to bring some back."

And then he was out of sight.

"Sam..."

"Good morning," she heard a voice.

Annie shrieked at it. Looking wildly around for the speaker, she grasped for something, anything to throw at them. Her gaze fell upon a man. Long and thin bodied with a gaunt face, dressed in a black suit and a long coat. He observed her with some measure of fond amusement. She bristled at it.

"Who are you?"

"Do not be alarmed Miss Summers," the man said with all of the calmness in the world, "I am not here to harm you in any way."

"What are you here for then?" she interrogated, "And what is this?"

"This," he spoke, "I believe this is your first birthday after moving in with Samuel. You're about to have breakfast in bed. He'd been planning it for weeks."

"That barely even answers one of my questions," Annie growled, "Who are you, what are you here for, and why are we... here? Is this... Is this really happening?"

She hated the vulnerability she could hear in her voice.

"No Miss Summers. This is just a memory you are dreaming of. I needed to speak to you, and the only way I can communicate with you right now is through your dreams."

"Why are you being all evasive with your identity? Don't think I don't see how you're being all shifty and unhelpful with answers," she said huffily.

All if did was make him laugh.

"I like you Miss Summers. You are far more fun and interesting than any of your past slayer incarnations."

"Wait," Annie said, now on guard when the word slayer was being thrown around, "You know about all of this," she gestured at the dream, "but you're here looking for the slayer. Just who are you looking for?"

"Oh, I understand you confusion. Being bounced back and forth between worlds and lives must have given you quite the identity crisis," the man spoke in an almost flippant tone, "But I will assure you, whether you think you are Annabeth Summers, or Buffy Summers, you are the right Miss Summers. You seem to be under the impression that you must be one or the other."

"So, I actually am Buffy Summers?" Annie asked, distressed.

Had she been wrong this entire time?

"Silly girl," the man said, "You are not just Buffy. Buffy is as much Annabeth as Annabeth is Buffy. You share the same soul, the same memories." He paused, and then began again. "That's the dilemma. One entity cannot exist in two worlds at once. While you are here as Buffy Summers, your body is still alive there. The balance has already been compromised. The longer you are here, the more things are bound to go wrong. Best case scenario, you die in the other world so you only exist here and the balance is reset. Worst case, the worlds collide and destroy one another."

Annie opened her mouth, but was unable to speak. To think that level of destruction and death could be caused all because of herself. It was horrifying.

"You've been trying to return to this," he motioned to the room, "world. I am willing to send you back."

"Why are you going to help me out?" Annie managed to ask, suspiciously.

"Because I want these worlds to end just about as much as you do. It will be a lot of trouble and work to be done by me if they do."

"So when can you take me?" Annie asked, feelings of excitement and guilt warring within her.

This had been the first promising lead yet to go home, yet she couldn't help but think about leaving the Scoobies like this now that she knew the truth.

"Not yet." She deflated a bit in disappointment. "But it will be soon. I just wanted to meet with you before hand and to prepare you for departure." He pinned her with his black-eyed stare. "The next time I appear to you, you will have willingly welcomed death." His lips quirked a bit, as if he'd thought of something funny. "That will be when I take you back."

"Okay..." she said, "Considering this new slayer gig I've picked up, life or death, usually death, situations seem to happen all of the time." She glanced at him one more time. "Thank you for the help. Not sure if it's a good idea or if I trust you, but I..."

"No need for that Miss Summers," the man spoke, "One last warning before I depart." He leveled her with a very grave look. "When I send you back, you will experience much hardship. You have an important role to play there should you return. But, you do not have to if you do not want to. You can stay here. You can make that choice."

"Like you said," she said, "I'm meant for something important there. This world doesn't need Buffy Summers as its slayer. They still have another slayer to fill in."

"Ah, yes. Miss Lehane. Are you sure?"

"Yes. It might be selfish, but, I want to be with Sam and Jess again."

"To be selfish is human Miss Summers. And it is not a crime to love and want to be with one's loved ones." A sound came from down the hall. " I now bid you adieu and sweet dreams."

"But you still haven't given me your name!"

"You will figure it out eventually."

With that, he began to fade out of vision, until at last he was gone, as if he'd never been there. Furrowing her eyebrows, she stewed over the fact she'd never gotten his name. And then it stopped mattering because a tall, gorgeous half naked form appeared at the doorway holding a try laden with all sorts of wonderful smelling food. Even if this was a dream, she chose to enjoy it to it's fullest before she had to wake up. She was anxious for the man's arrival.

* * *

It had come to this at last.

Annie at stared all of the Scoobies, terror in her features. This wasn't supposed to happen. They weren't supposed to find out. At least, not like this.

Last night had been strange, that was a given. Singing in the middle of a patrol whilst dispatching a demon and his vampire lackeys. But she figured she'd just been really tired and being non-sensical in her exhaustion. After all, she hadn't been sleeping much with all of her research. Even though she had an exit strategy set up, it didn't hurt to have another in case shady guy from her dream was dead end. So, she'd slept on it and woken up to other people singing too. It was a little fun to watch others burst into song. A little less fun to burst into song herself. It was certainly a little disconcerting, but nothing that seemed too harmful and needed immediate attending to.

But then people started revealing their deepest darkest secrets and feelings musically.

And then they started spontaneously combusting.

Annie knew it was only a matter of time before she found herself walking into her own musical rendition of Annie, except without the cute little redheaded orphan. So she'd thrown herself wholeheartedly into finding the culprit behind the singing and the dancing, only to have Dawn get herself kidnapped and named the demon's bride to be. In lieu of what she'd been told, Dawn was really her sister from this life. With that knowledge, Annie could no longer hold back the true affection she felt for the girl and for the rest of the Scoobies. Her heart and mind had finally caught up with what her soul knew. They were just as precious to her as Sam and Jess were in the other world. And now they all knew the truth. At least, a version of the truth.

There she stood, standing center stage, chest heaving, with Spike's hands were tightly clasped around her arms to stop her from going any further with her dancing or singing. The acrid smell of smoke drifted into her nostrils letting her know just how close she'd come to being barbecue. But that horrifying realization was nothing compared to the feeling of her heart falling into her stomach as she met the gazes of each and every one of them.

"Guys..."

"Miss Summers."

Everyone in the room's heads swung to face the newcomer. Annie knew him instantly.

"Hey," she greeted him weakly, now under the scrutiny of the others.

"Who is he?" Spike asked her quietly, tensed and staring at the man with apprehension.

"He's..." She paused before answering. "He's the way home."

Spike's eyes went impossibly wide.

"You," the suited demon, standing and staring at the man, "What are you doing here?"

"I am here to see Miss Summers," the man replied, not once turning his attention away from Annie, "Be gone now."

"But I was summoned!" Sweet roared, all previous swagger and composure gone as he jumped to his feet, "I will not be denied my bride!"

"The girl did not summon you," the man said coolly, "It was that boy over there. Hardly suitable material for a hell queen."

His gnarled finger pointed out Xander.

"Xander!" Anya exclaimed, scandalized.

"What?" Xander said, quailing under all of the angry accusatory attention, "I didn't know what was going to happen. I just thought there was going to be dances and songs. I just wanted to make sure that we'd work out."

He gave everyone a nervous, guilty look.

"Quite a twist isn't it Sweet?" The man received an angry snarl in response. "If that is all, leave, or I will end you."

The demon was physically taken aback, the threat seemingly carrying a lot of weight with him. Cold fear shone in his electric blue eyes. In a second, he burst into light and energy and was gone.

"I hope you don't mind," the man said, returning his attention in full to Annie, "He's fun at parties, but during serious affairs, singing and dancing tends to get in the way of conducting business."

"No problem here," Annie said, "I didn't like him much anyway." She took a step away from Spike, shrugging off his hands, in the man's direction. "Is it time to go now?"

He nodded and gave her a kind smile and held his hand out to her.

"Wait!" Someone yelled. Annie closed her eyes, knowing just who it was. "Where do you think you're taking Buffy?"

"Where she belongs, young Key."

"No!" Dawn cried, jumping off of the stage, struggling with her dress as she did so, and standing in between Annie and the man. "You're not taking Buffy anywhere! She's already where she belongs, with her family!"

"Dawn..." Annie said softly, reaching out or the girl.

"She's right," Xander said, coming forward. In the background, Willow stood, staring in abject horror as tears leaked from her eyes and fell unending, "We're sorry Buff, about everything. About taking you from heaven. We didn't mean to, we thought we were saving you from... hell. Please, being here must be nothing compared to heaven, but give us a chance. Stay with us."

"I can't," Annie said.

"Why?" This time it was Spike, staring down at her, the same pleading in his eyes, in that one word. "I know this isn't your world anymore, but couldn't you try? For us luv, if nothing else?"

Tears began to well in her eyes. She shook her head.

"It was worth a shot. I guess that's it then."

"That's not it!" Dawn cried hysterically, she swung around to Annie, "You can't possibly be thinking of going with this creep! You can't leave me alone, you're my sister, and you've got to take care of me! Who else will save me on Tuesdays?"

"Dawnie..."

"Don't Dawnie me dammit. You, you just, you can't!"

"I have to Dawn. This isn't my world anymore," Annie said, looking past the girl at the others, not quite able to look her in the eye, "The balance of the worlds was thrown off when I was brought back. If I stay, the worlds will end."

If it was possible, Willow grew paler, her sobs more violent. She knew now the damage her spell had wrought.

"We can face, it then! We'll find a way to stop it somehow. You don't have to leave, we'll figure it out."

"It's not just that Dawn," Annie said, "I want to go. There are people waiting for me on the other side. There are things to do that only I can. I'm sorry."

Big blue eyes stared back at her, betrayed. She reached out to caress the girl's face. Dawn flinched at the touch initially but lent into it after a couple of seconds. She cried heart brokenly. Annie went a step further and pulled the girl, her sister, into a crushing embrace. She felt another body and a set of arms wrap around her and knew Spike had joined. Soon, there were many arms and bodies surrounding all of them, and at last, she broke down shed tears along with them.

It seemed a really long time that they all stood together, joined by grief at the knowledge she'd be leaving them again, for the last time. The man waited for her patiently, until at last she was freed. She stood away from them, close to the man, but facing their direction.

"This is the last time I'll be seeing you, so, I should get everything off my chest before I go." She started at the end of the line. "Xander, Anya. I hope you two have all of the happiness in the world together. Don't let your doubts and fears about being together ruin your love." Anya looked up at Xander and took his hand. With a watery smile, he took it and kissed it right where her ring was. Annie moved on. "Willow, I know you were trying to save me. I'm not angry for you taking me away. But from now on, you have to be careful. The magic you're dealing with, it's becoming dangerous. You have to learn to stop. Trust in Tara to guide you. No one will take better care of you than her." Willow looked to Tara. Tara looked conflicted, but offered her hand to Willow any way. The redhead looked back to Annie, and nodded, resolute. "Giles. Don't go back to England. Faith will need you when she comes back." The British man started at her words. "You were the best Watcher, the best father, that I could've asked for." Though he remained dry eyed, the man's eyes spoke in volumes of how touched he felt. "Spike. I'm sorry I dropped that bomb on you and expected so much from you without enough concern for you. Thank you for loving Buffy, me, even when I didn't deserve it. You'll find someone for you some day. Someone better than me, better than Drusilla. Till then, I have a favor I'd like to ask."

"Always with the favors, aren't you?" Spike asked with a chuckle.

"Yeah," Annie affirmed, sheepishly, "Keep looking out for Dawn. She's going to need someone."

"That was already a given," he said playfully, though his face was pained, "Can I ask favor of my own?"

"Depends. If I can do it, I'll try."

"Gimme one good snog before you go, eh?"

She knew enough slang to know what he meant. With an exasperated sigh, she stepped up to him. He looked down on her surprised, as if he hadn't expected her to follow through. Reaching up tenderly, she pulled him down at the neck and pressed a light closed mouth kiss. And then she pulled away, leaving him dazed and longing.

"Thanks for that.'

Patting him on the cheek lovingly, she moved on to the last person.

"Dawn."

"Why do you always have to be the hero? Why is it always you?"

"Someone up there must really like me I guess," she replied, "Tall and gloomy over there does, at least."

Glancing back at the man, he nodded indulgently. Not at all bothered by what she said.

"I wish you could stay with me," Dawn whispered.

Annie placed a hand on either side of the teen's face and touched their foreheads together.

"We'll be together again some day Dawnie. Somehow. I promise."

The girl nodded, sadly.

"I love you, Buffy."

"I love you too, Dawn." She lifted her head to place a kiss on the forehead.

Glancing away, at the rest of the people, she gave them a sad smile.

"I love you all. So much." She started walking backwards, away from them. "I guess this is goodbye."

No one waved, or said anything. She turned her back on them once and for all and walked over to the man.

"I'm ready now."

"Take my arm then." He held it out to her.

Gingerly, Annie placed her hand on it. Immediately, she felt the world fall away.

And another take its place.

Home.

* * *

End

* * *

AN: Frustrating piece this one was. Had to go through several re-writes, but I'm finally satisfied with the outcome. The latest episode of S6 of SPN also managed to give me some inspiration. Hope y'all got who Mr. Dark and Suity was. Kind of a big part to play in the future of this series. I decided to end this one here. The next installment will be called Avatar. Hope to see you then!


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